Portside

While the majority of pro-Palestinian protests in Paris, Berlin, London, Vienna, Amsterdam and other cities have taken place peacefully, some have descended into verbal and physical attacks on Jews and Jewish property, including synagogues and shops.

In some circles, particularly among "progressive" Zionists, the terrible injustice done to the Palestinians is acknowledged, but as awful as the Nakba was, they say, it was what had to be done to create and ensure the security of the Jewish state. To be clear, the price was paid by the Palestinians-that is, the killing and expulsion of Palestinians for the sake of Jewish safety. The only way you can think that - is to believe that Jewish lives matter more . . .

We can tell, for sure, from video images and even photographs that the Iron Dome system is not working very well at all. It hits a targeted missile maybe 5 percent of the time—could be even lower. ... Meanwhile, the Israeli government presents Iron Dome's performance as part of a sophisticated public relations effort.

Now we know: In the Jewish state, there is pity and humane feelings only for Jews, rights only for the Chosen People. The Jewish state is only for Jews.

First-hand account of deadly strike on Gaza port by Peter Beaumont, in Gaza. There is a deafening explosion, then a second. Four children are dead. Adam Keller writes from Tel Aviv: "It is forbidden to shoot at civilian populations. It is forbidden and still it happens. Both sides do it. Hamas shoots on the population of Israel. The IDF shoots at the population of Gaza." Lawyer Marjorie Cohn reviews legal standing of collective punishment.

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Net neutrality deadline; Big Data World; Donahue spills; Facebook messes with your mind; Changing narrative on Israel-Palestine

The Zionist strategy of branding its brutal policies as an ad hoc response to this or that Palestinian action is as old as the Zionist presence in Palestine itself. It was used repeatedly as a justification for implementing the Zionist vision of a future Palestine that has in it very few, if any, native Palestinians. And nowadays the vision is of an Israel stretching over almost the whole of historic Palestine where millions of Palestinians still live.

The Israel-Palestine conflict is clearly not all about resources. But in an age of expensive energy, competition to dominate regional fossil fuels are increasingly influencing the critical decisions that can inflame war.

Kidnap, crackdown, mutual missteps and a hail of rockets